Tulsa Oilers (baseball)
|- | align="left" colspan="2" style="background: lightyellow"|'Class-level' |- | align="left" colspan="2"| *Triple-A (1966-1976) |- | align="left" colspan="2" style="background: lightyellow"|'Minor league affiliations' |- | align="left" colspan="2"| *American Association (1969-1976) *Pacific Coast League (1966-1968) *Texas League (1933-1942), (1946-1965) *Western League (1919-1929), (1932) *Western Association (1910), (1914) *Oklahoma-Kansas League (1908) *Oklahoma-Arkansas-Kansas League (1907) *South Central League (1906) *Missouri Valley League (1905) |- | align="left" colspan="2" style="background: lightyellow"|'Major league affiliations' |- | align="left" colspan="2"| *St. Louis Cardinals (1959-1976) *Philadelphia Phillies (1957-1958) *Chicago Cubs (1956) *Cleveland Indians (1955) *Cincinnati Reds (1948-1954) *Chicago Cubs (1940-1942), 1946-1947) *Pittsburgh Pirates (1932) |- | align="middle" colspan="2"| |- | align="left" colspan="2" style="background: lightyellow"|'Name' |- | align="left" colspan="2"| *Tulsa Oilers |- | align="left" colspan="2" style="background: lightyellow"|'Ballpark' |- | align="left" colspan="2"| *Oiler Park (1934-1976) *Fairgrounds Park (1932-1934) McNulty Park (1919-1929) others (1905-1917)[1] |- | align="left" colspan="2" style="background: lightyellow"|'Minor league titles' |- align="left" style="vertical-align: top" | | width="135"| |- align="left" style="vertical-align: top" | | width="135"| |- align="left" style="vertical-align: top" |'League titles' | width="135"|1919, 1920, 1922, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1932, 1936, 1949, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1974 |} The Tulsa Oilers, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were a minor league baseball team that existed on-and-off in multiple leagues from 1905 to 1976. For most of their history, they played at Oiler Park, which opened on July 11, 1934, and was located on the Tulsa County Fairgrounds at 15th Street and Sandusky Avenue. In 1905, the Oilers were part of the Missouri Valley League. That year, they finished 44 and 58 under manager Charlie Schafft. Unluckily for them, the Missouri Valley League folded after 1905 and so a new league was formed – the South Central League – in which the Oilers were to be a charter team. Under managers Frank Smith and Bill Rupp, the Oilers finished the 1906 season with a 45 and 42 record. Like the Missouri Valley League, the South Central League folded after the Oilers had been a member for only one season. Again, the Oilers would have to find a new league to play in. They played in the Oklahoma-Arkansas-Kansas League in 1907, where they finished with an unsavory 37 and 60 record, under Hall of Fame manager Jake Beckley. The Oklahoma-Arkansas-Kansas League saw two teams leave, so in 1908 the Oilers played in the Oklahoma-Kansas League, which was just the aforementioned Oklahoma-Arkansas-Kansas League minus a couple teams. They finished with the second best record in the league - 69 and 55 under managers Deacon White and Stu McBirney - but, not surprisingly, this league folded after only one year of existence as well. The Tulsa Oilers did not organize in 1909, and therefore did not play baseball. However, in 1910, they played in the Western Association. Their first year in that league was rather unimpressive, as they finished the season 28 and 68 under managers Gus Weyhing and Con Harlow. On July 22, the Tulsa Oilers team disbanded. From 1911 to 1913, the Tulsa Oilers were not involved in organized baseball. However, in 1914 they rejoined the Western Association, leading the league with a 74 and 49 record under manager Howard Price. Even after such an impressive season, the Oilers disbanded again, and baseball would not be played under that name until 1919. (Until 1917 Tulsa had a team in the Western Association called the Tulsa Producers.[2][3]) In 1919, the Oilers joined the Western League, where they played from 1919 until 1929, and in 1932 as well. Their performance during those years can be seen in the following chart.[4] From 1922 to 1924, Oilers star Lyman Lamb hit 68, 71 and 100 doubles, respectively - the latter of which is a minor league record. In 1930, the Oilers' home park was declared unsuitable by the city and so the team eventually moved to Topeka, Kansas for a spell. In 1930 and 1931, they were known as the Topeka Senators. Although 1932 was the Oilers' final season in the Western League, it was also the first season in which they were actually affiliated with a Major League team - the Pittsburgh Pirates. That affiliation lasted that year only, however. The 1932 Oilers are listed at Number 83 on the official Minor League Baseball website list of the best teams in minor league history.[5] From 1933 to 1942, the Oilers played in the Texas League. From 1940 to 1942, they were affiliated with the Chicago Cubs. The Texas League was shut down from 1943 to 1945 due to World War II, but when it started up again in 1946, the Oilers again played in the league until 1965. In 1946 and 1947, the were affiliated with the Cubs, but in 1948 they became affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds. They stayed affiliated with the Reds until 1954. In 1955, they were a Cleveland Indians affiliate; in 1956, they were again a Cubs affiliate. From 1957 to 1958, they were a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate. For the rest of their existence, they were a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate. In 1961 the team was nearly moved to Albuquerque, but A. Ray Smith bought out the previous owner and began renovating dilapidated Oiler Park.[6] The following shows the Oilers' performance during their years in the Texas League:[4] In 1966 the Oilers moved up to AAA baseball as part of the Pacific Coast League. In their first year, they won the Eastern Division, then lost the championship series to the Seattle Angels, 4 games to 3. The following year, future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn took over as manager; he would ultimately become the winningest manager in Oilers history.[7] After a poor 1967 season, in 1968 the Oilers had one of their best seasons ever, winning the Eastern Division, then winning the PCL championship series 4 games to 1 over the Spokane Indians.[8] Oiler outfielder Jim Hicks was named MVP of the PCL.[9] During their final eight years of existence, the Oilers were members of the American Association. They won the league championship twice. In 1973, the Oilers led the West Division, then won the league playoff 4 games to 3 over the Iowa Oaks. The Oilers went on to play in the 1973 Junior World Series, where they lost 4 games to 1 to the Pawtucket Red Sox.[10] The Oilers repeated as league champions in 1974, again winning the West Division and then beating the Indianapolis Indians 4 games to 3. (There was no Junior World Series that year.) The following chart lists their performance during their final eight years of existence:[4] Through their many years of existence, the Oilers had had many big names both play for and manage the team. Jake Beckley, Gus Weyhing, Deacon White, Gus Mancuso, Marty McManus, Whitey Kurowski, Warren Spahn and Ken Boyer all managed for the team at one point or another. Ted Simmons, Nelson Briles, Jerry Reuss, Keith Hernandez, Bob Forsch, Dal Maxvill and Mike Easler all played for the team. Again faced with the deteriorating condition of Oiler Park, and unable to secure support to replace or rebuild it, Oilers owner A. Ray Smith moved the team to New Orleans after the 1976 season. For one year they were the New Orleans Pelicans, then moved on to Springfield, Illinois, and in 1982 to Louisville, Kentucky, where the team set minor league attendance records[6] and is now called the Louisville Bats. In 1977, the Oilers were replaced in Tulsa by the AA Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League.